Raw uranium stored near Libya's Sabha - IAEA

VIENNA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic agency said on
Thursday that Libya's previous government had stored raw uranium
near Sabha, after CNN reported that anti-Gaddafi forces had
found a military site containing what appeared to be radioactive
material.

The CNN report and the comment by the International Atomic
Energy Agency seemed to contradict a U.S. statement last month
that Libya's store of so-called yellow cake was held at the
Tajura nuclear research facility near Tripoli.

CNN said military forces loyal to Libya's National
Transitional Council took its television crew to the site near
the town of Sabha in the Sahara desert.

The new government says it is consolidating its grip on
Sabha and other oasis towns in the south of Libya which had
sided with former strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

The CNN crew "saw two large warehouses there, one containing
thousands of blue barrels, some marked with tape saying
"radioactive," and several plastic bags of yellow powder sealed
with the same tape," it said on its website.

"The material has not been confirmed as being radioactive."

CNN said protective suits were found hanging in offices that
appeared to have belonged to the Libyan government, along with
rubber gloves, devices for measuring radioactivity and various
military documents.

In Vienna, IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said: "We can confirm
that there is yellow cake stored in drums at a site near Sabha
... which Libya previously declared to the IAEA."

Referring to measures to make sure material is not diverted
to non-peaceful purposes, she added: "The IAEA has tentatively
scheduled safeguards activities at this location once the
situation in the country stabilises."

The enriched uranium required for use in atomic reactors or
weapons is produced in centrifuges that spin uranium
hexafluoride gas (UF6) at high speeds. The UF6 is derived from
yellow cake, a concentrate from mined uranium ore.

Last month, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said the
United States believed Libya's stocks of concentrated uranium
and mustard agent built up by Gaddafi were secure.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland added that
Libya's store of yellow cake was held at Tajura, about 34 km
east of Tripoli, and that the country no longer had the means to
turn it into fissile material for bombs.

In late 2003 the United States announced that Libya agreed
to give up its weapons of mass destruction programs, a decision
that paved the way to a rapprochement between the countries
after years of enmity.